BANASZAK GREG (USA)

Greg Banaszak, one of today's leading saxophonists, has performed with orchestras and at concert halls throughout the world. He has appeared as concerto soloist and recitalist throughout the United States, Eastern and Western Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, including the countries of France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Sweden, Belgium, Egypt, South Korea, The Dominican Republic, and Japan.

Mr. Banaszak is one of the most sought after orchestral saxophone soloists of his generation. As one of the few saxophonists active in both the classical and jazz mediums, Mr. Banaszak includes a combination of concerto performances, solo and chamber music recitals, and jazz festival appearances. He has presented recitals in such prestigious concert halls as Vienna's Bosendorfer Concert Hall, the Royal Palace Wilanów in Warsaw, Poland, and New York's Lincoln Center's Bruno Walter Hall. He has presented masterclasses at Austria's Musik Hochschule, the Cairo Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, and the Tanglewood Institute, to name a few. Mr. Banaszak was the first saxophone concerto soloist to appear with orchestras in The Middle East and Korea. He has been under the baton of such conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Philippe Entremont, and Randy Newman.

In 2010 Mr. Banaszak was the first saxophone soloist to appear at the fourteenth annual Henryk Gorecki International Music Festival, performing with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra; he premiered two concertos dedicated to him by celebrated composer Krzesimir Debski, for soprano saxophone and Orchestra. Mr. Banaszak was also the first saxophone concerto soloist to perform and tour with the Berlin Opera Symphoniker Orchestra. He was also featured as a concerto soloist with the Korean Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Artistic Director Maestro Min Kim, on their forty-fifth anniversary celebration concert at the Seoul Arts Center.

Mr. Banaszak's most recent critically acclaimed 2-CD Set, Romances for Saxophone and Orchestra, recorded with The Beethoven Academy Orchestra, is available on the Centaur Records label. His upcoming CD release features all premiere recordings highlighting duo concerti for alto saxophone, flute and orchestra. He has also recorded on Chanson and Open Loop labels.

Mr. Banaszak was recently appointed to the National Academy of Arts and Sciences as a voting member for the annual Grammy Awards ceremony. He is on the faculty of the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and Case Western Reserve University. He serves as a Vandoren Performing Artist, Selmer saxophone clinician, and Rovner Products consultant, and endorses Lawton mouthpieces and Oleg Products. He has performed as saxophonist for the Cleveland Orchestra.

Mr. Banaszak is a B.M. Cum Laude graduate of the Hartt School of Music. He was the first American to be allowed to study behind the "Iron Curtain" in communist-controlled Poland, where he earned a M.M. degree "with distinction" from the Chopin Academy of Music. He also holds an Artist Diploma from the Centre Musical d'Annecy in France. He cites his successful career on having studied with such prominent masters as Vincent Abato, Monsieur Daniel Deffayet, and jazz legend Jackie McLean, as well as David Pituch and David Schiavone.